


Restless

by Rookblonkorules



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alphonse Elric-Centric, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Sleepless nights, Winry Rockbell-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27162466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rookblonkorules/pseuds/Rookblonkorules
Summary: Nights in Resembool are longer if you don’t have anyone to spend them with.
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Winry Rockbell
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Restless

**Author's Note:**

> Alphonse deserves the world, okay?

Al has never quite noticed just how alive with sound the Resembool nights are before.

Now he doesn’t really have a choice. 

He has no need of sleep in his armored body.

Al is sure that there’s someone somewhere out in the world who would trade places with him in an instant. 

How many times has Ed lamented the need for sleep while they stayed late and studied alchemy?

Maybe he should be thankful for this body then.

He has no need for sleep. He could spend the night looking for a way to bring back their original bodies.

Maybe he will.

But right now, all Al can think about is how lonely the night is. Right now, all he can think about is how desperately he wishes to not have to spend these restless hours on his own.

He shifts, still unused to the sound of creaking metal joints that comes anytime he moves, and stares up at the sky.

At least he can still see the stars. 

He’s not sure what he would do without that.

“Alphonse?”

He jerks, startled, then turns. There’s a familiar figure standing in the doorway.

“Oh. Hi, Winry.”

“What are you doing out here?” She rubs her eyes and comes out to stand beside him on the porch.

“This body won’t let me sleep,” he explains, “so I’m looking at the stars.”

“Aren’t you lonely out here?”

Al hesitates before answering. He could try to hide it, but lying to Winry has never been a very good idea. 

He doesn’t want her to feel guilty about anything either. 

“I’m fine,” he says and maybe his voice comes out a little too light for it to be properly convincing because Winry’s face is skeptical. He tips his head back, raising his eyes to the sky. “I like looking at the stars. They’re so beautiful.”

“Yes,” Winry agrees and she plunks herself right down next to him, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, “they are. I always thought it would be nice to spend the night looking at the stars.”

“Winry… Wait, what are you doing?” She can’t seriously mean that. “You can’t stay out here! You need your sleep!”

She waves him off, snuggling up against his side. “Do you know how many all nighters I’ve had to pull when I was working on…” She stops and there’s a painful moment of silence where Alphonse knows that the same painful memory has seized them both. 

When she speaks again, it’s with a grin and forced cheer, but Al notices the tightness to her jaw. “When working on automail. You can’t just stop in the middle of a big, important project!”

“I guess not,” Al says, but he still doesn’t like the idea of Winry staying up the whole night just to keep him company. “Even if you don’t have any projects to work on, you really should get some rest, Winry. Your body needs sleep.”

Winry is quiet for a moment. “It’s not fair for you to have to spend every night by yourself, Al.”

“I haven’t!” Al is quick to protest. “Brother has tried to stay up with me before, even though I told him not to.” 

If he’d had a body, he’d be frowning. 

Ed is still recovering from his surgery. He can’t afford the lack of sleep.

Alphonse would rather be alone for hours every night than risk Ed doing something detrimental to his health. 

The same goes for Winry. 

“That idiot,” Winry huffs, but her tone is fond.

“Yeah,” Al agrees, but it doesn’t seem fair because Ed isn’t here to defend himself while they’re technically ganging up on him.

“Well,” Winry stretches her legs out in front of her, surprising him from his thoughts, “you can say what you want, but I’m not leaving you.”

He wants to protest more. He does. He probably should.

But he also welcomes the idea of having company. He doesn’t want to be out here by himself anymore.

She snuggles up next to him.

“Aren’t I cold?”

“The night is warm,” she says with a shrug. 

He’s probably hard too. He can’t imagine his new body makes for a good pillow, but Winry doesn’t seem to mind.

He relents with a reluctant sigh.

“Okay.”


End file.
